Unnamed government officials in Quito told the British newspaper
that Assange had in fact been given an offer of asylum by Ecuador
months ago, and that the offer had followed confidential
negotiations between Ecuador and senior London embassy staff. But
according to one Ecuadorean source, the British government
"discouraged the idea" of offering Asssange asylum, and the Swedish
government also was "not very collaborative".

It remains unclear at this point, however, if the asylum grant
is actually a done deal. In the wake of the report from
the Guardian, the Ecuadorean newspaper El
Telegrafo is reporting that President Correa has denied
making a final decision yet. And the official twitter feed of
President Correa has called the Guardian report a false
rumour and said he is waiting for additional information before
making a final decision on Assange's asylum request.

Correa did say on public television earlier this week that he
would be announcing his decision before the end of this week, so
it's possible he is denying a decision has been made now because
his government was caught off guard while making other preparations
for the announcement.

Assange fled to the Ecuadorean embassy on 19 June, just as the
deadline was approaching for him to turn himself over to
authorities to begin extradition proceedings to Sweden, where he
faces questioning on sex-crimes allegations. He's been sequestered
in the embassy ever since awaiting the decision of the Ecuadorean
government.

Even with a grant of asylum, however, it remains to be seen how
Assange will manage to leave London without being arrested by UK
police who have staked out the Ecuadorean embassy for weeks while
Assange has been holed up there. He faces arrest for breach of bail
if he leaves the Ecuadorian embassy, so passage for him out of
England, under diplomatic cover, would have to be negotiated with
UK authorities.

As part of his bail conditions, granted by the High Court in
December 2010, Assange was required to remain at his bail address
between 10 pm and 8 am each night, which he violated from the night
he sought asylum at the embassy.

The Metropolitan Police have been stationed outside the embassy,
waiting to arrest Assange if he left the premises. They have
authority to stop any vehicle or helicopter he might travel in to
get out of the country.

An Ecuadorean source told the Guardian that
the Latin American government sees Assange's request "as a
humanitarian issue."

"The contact between the Ecuadorean government and WikiLeaks
goes back to May 2011, when we became the first country to see the
leaked US embassy cables completely declassified," he told the
newspaper. "It is clear that when Julian entered the embassy there
was already some sort of deal. We see in his work a parallel with
our struggle for national sovereignty and the democratisation of
international relations."

Assange, in seeking asylum, asserted that Australia, his native
country, appeared to have no plans to protect him, which put him in
a state of "helplessness," according to a statement that statement from Ecuador's
foreign ministry made at the time of his request.

Under Article 14 of the Universal
Declaration of Human Rights, "everyone has the right to seek
and to enjoy in other countries asylum from persecution." However,
the second clause of the article states that "the right may not be
invoked in the case of prosecutions genuinely arising from
non-political crimes or from acts contrary to the purposes and
principles of the United Nations."

Assange is not, in fact, accused of political crimes. He is
being sought for questioning in Sweden on rape and coercion
allegations stemming from separate sexual relations he had with two
women in that country in August 2010. One woman told police that
Assange pinned her down to have sex with her and that she suspected
he intentionally tore a condom he wore. The second woman reported
that he had sex with her while she was initially asleep, failing to
wear a condom despite repeated requests for him to do so. Assange
has denied any wrongdoing, asserting that the sex in both cases was
consensual.

But UK prosecutor Clare Montgomery, who was in an early court
proceeding representing Swedish authorities, said that even if the
US requested extradition of Assange from Sweden, no such
extradition could take place without consent from UK
authorities.

Swedish authorities have said Assange would be
imprisoned as soon as he arrived in that country and would
have a court hearing four days after extradition from the United
Kingdom to determine if he would have to remain in custody.

Assange was ordered to return to Sweden to face the allegations
after the UK Supreme Court rejected a bid to re-open his appeal
case there. The judges gave him a two-week reprieve before
extradition proceedings would begin, saving him from being
immediately ejected from the country. But this gave him time to
hatch his plot to request asylum.